Hissyfits Photography Blog

Alright…so in an attempt to get all of my party posts {or lack thereof on the parties that we had before I started blogging} organized, I am kicking it off with Gentry’s first birthday! I am going to preface this with the fact that I won’t be doing posts on Huntler’s first or second birthday parties. While they were cute, they weren’t nearly as over the top as these later parties have turned out to be! And we didn’t have an SLR so what few pics we have aren’t even that great. So yes, I love my little man every ounce as much as I love my little diva, but in the spirit of keeping it real, his first two parties were nothing to write home about!

I also want to warn you that while there are a lot of images for this bash, they aren’t spectacular by any means! I wasn’t nearly as into photography two years ago as I am now. However, I think you can get the general idea and if anyone has any questions, just let me know! I could talk party planning until I am blue in the face! And if you could care less about a party I did two years ago, that’s fine too! We’ll see you again in my next post!!

So first of all…I can’t take credit for all of my ideas! Sure, I manage to bring them all to life, but I find SO much inspiration on the web and from other moms! Seriously…what would we do without the internet? One of my favorite party planning websites is Birthday Party Ideas. Once you know your theme, you can sift through all of the entries that other moms have so kindly submitted and take what you want from them! I have done that very thing for every single party we have had! Amazing Moms is another great one to hit up. And I of course just Google the theme too and see what else turns up from that! With blogging it is amazing what you can find out there!

First up…the invite. I found the pattern in a book called “Unforgettable Invitations.” I totally tweaked it to fit my style as far as using simple, solid card stock and jazzing it up with glittery dots, but the pattern and idea were totally from the book! And yes, they took FOREVER!! But, somehow when it is something for your own child, you just overlook all of that and do it!

I combined wording I found on several different invites to get what I wanted. And we used a font called Spotty Dotty to add to the feel! Wordpress has some spacing “issues” so I can’t make this as concise as I would like, but the inside reads as follows:

Polka Dots And Little Black Spots,

That’s What Ladybugs Are Made Of.

Our “Little Lady” Is Turning One,

So Fly On Over And Have Some Fun!

Address

The Infestation Begins At Time On Date

Give Us A Buzz At Phone Number

A Feast Will Be Waiting On All Buggy Friends,

So Come Ready To Dive In!

We Hope To Spot You There!

Chris And Bethany: Head Gardeners

Keeping in line with the invitation is the thank you note…which I did not design! I had this created by Heather at Pea Pod Announcements and absolutely loved it! Notice how it says, “Bugs and Kisses.” It is all about the details friends…all about the details!

Whew! This is a long post already and I am only just getting started!! For anyone that knows me or has been following along for any amount of time, you can probably tell that I am pretty picky about some things! Finding the plates and napkins for this party was one of the hardest parts of it because I knew exactly what I wanted but had trouble finding it!

I finally found what I wanted at EZ Party Zone. We used their plates and napkins and just used black and red for the rest of the tableware. I noticed that recently Birthday Express came out with a super cute ladybug line too…in softer colors. I had forgotten but am now reminded that I really struggled with which color scheme to go with for this party! I think it was probably easier to find favors and other decorations to go with the red and black, but that is just my opinion!

Up next…the cake. While I would love to learn the art of cake making in this capacity, I definitely did NOT make this! The fabulous Elizabeth did and it was nothing short of spectacular! The main cake, Gentry’s smash cake, the cupcakes…the detail was amazing and needless to say, she set the bar really high for herself!

Gentry’s smash cake…which she DEVOURED!

See…the girl loved it! Wasn’t she so cute and little? She has really grown up in the last two years! Sniff, sniff…

The main cake…love how you can see the shimmer she added! So glam!

And the sweet cupcakes…

What else? How about the decorations! I tend to like the not so “cookie cutter” type of things, so you’ll find a whole array of decor at our parties!

This is our entryway. No, the yellow most definitely does NOT match the ladybug colors we were rockin’, but it does match the earthy, neutral tones of our home! It is funny to me to look at this shot because the more parties we have, the more balloons we have!! We have always rented a helium tank since we’ve lived here so we can have a whole lotta balloons! This seems like nothing, but it is fun for the kids to walk through them as they come in! The red and black polka dotted balloons are from here.

This is just a galvanized milk jug I bought at Michael’s. I tied black satin ribbon to the handles and stuck red flowers in it! It is simple but adds a pop of color! I LOVE galvanized buckets and decor! I love that they can be used for boys and girls and how adding ribbon to the handles can totally jazz them up and make them fit your theme!

This cute banner came from Birthday in a Box. LOVE how the purple in it ties in with the purple in the cake! However, this one is super cute too because you can add a picture…it just has a lot of pink and less red and black!

For all of you who like to know what people’s houses look like {I am SOOO included in that category!}, here is a peek into what you see as you enter our home! It looks completely different now as we have painted that large wall on the right a deep brown and added brightly colored fabric covered canvas, painted the playroom {which is at the top of the stairs and to the right} and we have also painted our family room so the entry into that is now red and not boring tan! And just to curb your curiosity, the hallway just past the stars leads to the garage and the room off the kitchen is our family room. That door you can just barely see leads out to the patio!

Some random bits of red and black before they were set out…

Red and black jelly beans, licorice, ladybug chocolates, mini Oreos, carefully wrapped silverware…

Are you having fun yet?! By the time you finish this post, you should be able to plan a super fun and over the top crazy cute ladybug bash of your very own!

Here are the gifts! I KNOW I got the idea of the little picket fence off of one of the party planning sites, but my dad is the one who gave it the fun twist with the little wooden ladybugs and the curly ribbon! I probably would have set it out plain! That was a “morning of the party project” and we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off! It seems like no matter how much you do ahead of time, there are always things that don’t get done until the last minute!

The little wooden ladybugs can be bought at a craft store…Hobby Lobby, Michael’s or JoAnn’s. The picket fence came from the gardening section at Home Depot. Both the large and small mylar balloons can be found here. And the fancy ladybug wrapping paper? Well, right here of course! But I must say that Gentry got a present that was wrapped in solid red paper with black felt circles adhered to it that was WAY too cute for words!

This next picture serves as a decoration and also part of the favors! I bought a plain jane terra cotta flower pot and fancied it up for the occasion! This is just a little bit of red spray paint, shellac for shine, hot glue and fuzzy black pom poms! Viola! Easy as can be! There is a piece of floral styrofoam on the inside that the lollies are stuck into and then the shredded green paper from a craft store for filler. A little disclaimer here…the link for the lollies is not where I ordered mine from, but I did get them off of Ebay. I highly recommend keeping the temperature in mind when you order something like this! We live in Arizona and the party was mid July. The seller forgot to pack the first batch with ice packs and they arrived in melty little blobs. Needless to say I was frazzled! Since it was her fault, she whipped up a new batch and overnighted them so they were still cool. That being said, I did order from her again for Huntler’s party a couple of months later because she went above and beyond, but after that I taught myself how to make ‘em on my own so I wouldn’t have to worry about chocolate in extreme heat again! And to tell you the truth, it really isn’t all that hard at all! PROMISE!!

So, each little guest at the bash received a ladybug lollipop as part of their party favors. The next two pictures show the rest of the favors. And yes, it could be argued that I tend to go overboard! I won’t deny it!

Because the theme was ladybugs, I went with little garden totes for what I wanted the favors to be placed in. They too were plain jane unfinished wood that I painted white and then hot glued the same little wooden ladybugs to.

Because our kids are still young and we invite more of our friends to the party than their friends, there are kids of all ages! I always try to pick goodies that are age appropriate. For this party, it was actually really easy! All of the stores seemed to have fun ladybug stuff out for littles in all stages!

Here is an example of one of the bigger kids garden totes! The yo yo and stuffed keychain came from Target. The kaleidoscope was something I bought from a party store on Ebay as a set of twelve or so {I couldn’t find them when I just searched} and the rest of the goodies {net, tweezers, magnified bug catchers} came in a kit from the seasonal stuff at JoAnn’s. I once again used the red and black shredded paper from the craft store for filler!

The babies {anybody under two or so} got the following in their totes. The little four piece puzzles were from Wal Mart. They actually have critters on all sides, but I taped them so that the ladybug was visible! And the bath toys came from somewhere online. Here is a link to some.

Now for some of the fun food we had!

My dad totally rocked it out with these fabulously adorable crackers he whipped up! Are they not the cutest? Here are some other random ladybug treats from Taste of Home. And a few from Kraft Foods as well!

The rest of ours was just your typical party food! Sandwiches, chips, fruit, pop…you get the idea! You will notice I had to add some more galvanized metal into the mix though! And fresh flowers! Apparently I didn’t get a picture of the whole spread for some reason?! Probably because parties are always so chaotic! Oh well!

Since this party I have gotten hooked on the idea of using cookie cutters that tie in with the theme to cut out sandwiches and fresh fruit with! Here is a link to a large ladybug and a jumbo flower!

This next image is really not great at all, but it was the one that showed the little ladybug hats off the best! Another do it yourself project! And another “morning of the party project” that I had to put Chris’ mom and my mom to work on completing! I know some of ya’ll think I am crazy for starting on party stuff so far in advance, but seriously, if I don’t, it just won’t get done! And it is the fun little details like this that bring it all together!

Anyway, I have NO idea where I found this project and once again, I can’t find it now, but what my fabulous helpers did was take black plastic plates {I can’t even remember what size but not the huge dinner plates} and cut out the center leaving the edge. Somehow they then attached chenille pipe cleaners as antennae and added red satin ribbon to tie them on. They were really cute and so many of the kids wore them! Because I hadn’t had time to make them, I was going to nix them, but am so glad I had family here to come to the rescue! {Blah…boring tan walls are now deep red and chocolate brown!}

Party games/activities. Thinking back, we didn’t do a whole lot for this party. Everyone was still so young that they preferred to play with toys rather than take part in planned activities! I remember doing some sort of ladybug craft with fuzzy pom poms that was for you to stick in a plant as a little decoration. I also remember having extras of the ladybug keychains and using those to toss in a flower pot. “Pin the Spot on the Ladybug” would have been a really fun one too!

Just for giggles, here are a couple pics of my sweet, sweet birthday girl when she turned one! Was she not simply scrumptious?! I can’t believe how much she has changed in the last two years…she is so grown up. The baby hair and chub have been replaced by big girl hair and a long, skinny body. But those blue eyes are still as beautiful as they’ve always been!

And since I have shared everything else, her dress was from the Gymboree outlet in 2007…so it must have been a line that they came out with in the summer of 2006 or so!

And to wrap it up, here are just a few fun Etsy finds! I wasn’t even aware of Etsy when I planned this party but have since become obsessed! Everything handmade under the sun can be found here!

My blog BFF Julie recently created this fun headband! Gentry has quite a collection of these fabulous messy flowers and we {big puffy heart} them!! She can also make them on stretchy knit headbands for the bitty girls or alligator clips for pigtails! So sweet!

For the little girls who will be attending the bash, how about making each of them their own sweet hair clip as a favor? The past two years I have really gotten to where I LOVE to make themed  hair pretties for all the girlie guests! I am all about unique, useful goodies as party favors!

How about this adorable tutu for the birthday girl? Plus, it can totally be worn for Halloween down the road too! Add this fun wand and you are set!

For the non “do it yourself-er”, here is a great little package complete with invites, thank you notes, cupcake toppers and even a coordinating banner! I not only adore party planning but I also HAVE to have control so it would be extremely hard for me to not make my own stuff, but this is an AMAZING deal!

WHEW!! I am pretty sure that the only ones of you still reading along are the ones who are actually planning a ladybug party in the future, but that is okay! The whole reason I did this post was to not just get my thoughts and information together for me for future reference, but also for everyone else out there who may need a bit of inspiration! I hope you throw an amazing party and if you use anything from this post, I would love to see pictures sometime!

Filed under my-lil-lollies, party-shoppe, random-sweetness, by Bethany